01-04-2019, 11:45 AM
"So," Susan asked. "You're putting her in danger?"
"Never." Helena said, folding her arms. "The 'summit' is too public for Yorkshire to make a move. If anything he says can be believed, he's some kind of conflict profiteer. Selling the bullets to one side, then selling the bandages to the other; that kind of thing. A stray shot there, and he loses a customer.
"Ultimados have Rita under 24-hour watch. If she has to go out, more pose as a film crew for a new reality show that'll never happen, so if he plays by my 'no bystanders' rule, she's perfectly safe. That's the other reason the Green Family Reunion is happening; you may see some of the faces across the street come and go as the week goes by to relieve her detail. Rita's staying in the La Contessa Suite at a Società Finzione hotel downtown, I get to be your guys' neighbor for the week. That's the other reason that your neighborhood is 'The Safest Place in The World Right Now.'
"If you want, you can come with me to take a stroll around the neighborhood later; let the neighbors know that they're ok with it all, to go inside and take cover and not panic if anything SHOULD happen, and to just keep an eye out and let us know about anything unusual. Besides the Well-Built Hot People Convention over there, I mean. And we'll be cooking enough to feed them, too. Help me out, and they'll just remember that their nice neighbors invited them to a pretty good barbecue."
Helena watched as Maisson and Velasquez went off for a "stroll" themselves. Velasquez tried to take his hand. Maisson hesitated, then did so. Helen smiled, turned back to Troy, and continued.
"But like we discussed in the bedroom, Troy; I'll have things to do. I have to find Yorkshire and get to him before he gets to me. You offered to help. Most of the ways I can think of that you could help, by an astounding coincidence, can be done from the privacy of your own Safest Place."
Troy nodded.
"I guess if you want me looking at money, the internet connection we've got is pretty good."
"We, and by that, I mean primarily me and Mander; will need to do things outside of the zone. That is why I brought along one of Zartan's Dreadnoks, Troilus." She jerked a thumb at Mander, who simply nodded agreeably. He then leaned forward and spoke softly.
"Which one'm I, Your Countessness?" He asked.
"Monkeywrench." She replied. "But, you know, if he shaved."
"Too fuckin' right." He high-fived her from behind, then stood back, menacing no one in particular.
Troy nodded agreement before getting serious again.
"Ok, good. Rita's perfectly safe, then. What about everyone who isn't 'Secured by La Squadra de Ultimados?' Have you seen what's going on downtown, Helen?" Troy asked. "That's a powder keg ready to blow. Rioting could break out at any moment. Seattle had some riots a few years back. They didn't care for them."
"That's the Auctioneers, Troy. They're one of the few things in the world that I have no control over. I'm just on the list. And looking into them is a good way to get uninvited, so, I got nothing on them. Yorkshire is on the list, too, and he wants Springheel badly enough to kill me for it. He knew I'd be his only real competition. Because yes, I want Springheel, too. One of us is going to walk out of that place with it."
"Or jump out of the place." Susan whispered to Julie, who started laughing.
Mander stepped in.
"Per'aps, Your Countessness, we should take detailed discussion of the Wampeterutsis inside?"
She nodded. Then remembered she wasn't in San Finzione.
"Mander's got a good idea. Sorry about not asking earlier; Contessa thing. Shall we?"
* * *
"I may be oversharing, here." Susan said once everyone was back inside and the door was closed. "I'm crazy, but it's the 'sort-of nice' kind. However, I speak from experience when I say this: That's completely fucking insane."
"I am AWARE, Susan!" Helen said, a bit too defensively and off guard, then hurriedly covering. "I am aware that it's completely fucking insane! That the thing should come in a big, wooden crate with ACME stenciled on the side! The thing is that it shouldn't. It should come in a bunch of smaller crates of stuff that the Coyote then cobbles INTO Springheel! It's a bunch of non-stupid ideas, slapped together until they became Springheel!
"It's invisible! Like Harry Potter or Predator, more like Predator! That stuff about inertial damping? You guys are more into sci-fi than me, I'm sure you know more about it than I do. I've got a 20-page brief from my Minister of Science, and all I got out of it was that it's something we'll eventually need for Space and calling it 'inertial dampening' is incorrect."
"Stargate always fucked that one up, but yeah." Susan said, nodding for her to continue.
"That trajectory-calculating program, was I the only one who saw it and thought 'roulette wheel?' Or 'never lose a game of pool again?'"
Mander raised his hand.
"I did, Your Countessness."
Helen nodded to him and continued.
"You see? That's just the criminals in the room talking." She turned to Troy. "Fuck, Troy, YOU could probably do something like watch the lottery drawings for a couple weeks, track the movements of the number balls bouncing around that clear tumbler and come up with a viable system! Or figure out a way to intercept missiles or something! Visit the Texas Book Depository and sort out what really happened! I know YOU would figure out some way to use it for good, Troy.
"Never." Helena said, folding her arms. "The 'summit' is too public for Yorkshire to make a move. If anything he says can be believed, he's some kind of conflict profiteer. Selling the bullets to one side, then selling the bandages to the other; that kind of thing. A stray shot there, and he loses a customer.
"Ultimados have Rita under 24-hour watch. If she has to go out, more pose as a film crew for a new reality show that'll never happen, so if he plays by my 'no bystanders' rule, she's perfectly safe. That's the other reason the Green Family Reunion is happening; you may see some of the faces across the street come and go as the week goes by to relieve her detail. Rita's staying in the La Contessa Suite at a Società Finzione hotel downtown, I get to be your guys' neighbor for the week. That's the other reason that your neighborhood is 'The Safest Place in The World Right Now.'
"If you want, you can come with me to take a stroll around the neighborhood later; let the neighbors know that they're ok with it all, to go inside and take cover and not panic if anything SHOULD happen, and to just keep an eye out and let us know about anything unusual. Besides the Well-Built Hot People Convention over there, I mean. And we'll be cooking enough to feed them, too. Help me out, and they'll just remember that their nice neighbors invited them to a pretty good barbecue."
Helena watched as Maisson and Velasquez went off for a "stroll" themselves. Velasquez tried to take his hand. Maisson hesitated, then did so. Helen smiled, turned back to Troy, and continued.
"But like we discussed in the bedroom, Troy; I'll have things to do. I have to find Yorkshire and get to him before he gets to me. You offered to help. Most of the ways I can think of that you could help, by an astounding coincidence, can be done from the privacy of your own Safest Place."
Troy nodded.
"I guess if you want me looking at money, the internet connection we've got is pretty good."
"We, and by that, I mean primarily me and Mander; will need to do things outside of the zone. That is why I brought along one of Zartan's Dreadnoks, Troilus." She jerked a thumb at Mander, who simply nodded agreeably. He then leaned forward and spoke softly.
"Which one'm I, Your Countessness?" He asked.
"Monkeywrench." She replied. "But, you know, if he shaved."
"Too fuckin' right." He high-fived her from behind, then stood back, menacing no one in particular.
Troy nodded agreement before getting serious again.
"Ok, good. Rita's perfectly safe, then. What about everyone who isn't 'Secured by La Squadra de Ultimados?' Have you seen what's going on downtown, Helen?" Troy asked. "That's a powder keg ready to blow. Rioting could break out at any moment. Seattle had some riots a few years back. They didn't care for them."
"That's the Auctioneers, Troy. They're one of the few things in the world that I have no control over. I'm just on the list. And looking into them is a good way to get uninvited, so, I got nothing on them. Yorkshire is on the list, too, and he wants Springheel badly enough to kill me for it. He knew I'd be his only real competition. Because yes, I want Springheel, too. One of us is going to walk out of that place with it."
"Or jump out of the place." Susan whispered to Julie, who started laughing.
Mander stepped in.
"Per'aps, Your Countessness, we should take detailed discussion of the Wampeterutsis inside?"
She nodded. Then remembered she wasn't in San Finzione.
"Mander's got a good idea. Sorry about not asking earlier; Contessa thing. Shall we?"
* * *
"I may be oversharing, here." Susan said once everyone was back inside and the door was closed. "I'm crazy, but it's the 'sort-of nice' kind. However, I speak from experience when I say this: That's completely fucking insane."
"I am AWARE, Susan!" Helen said, a bit too defensively and off guard, then hurriedly covering. "I am aware that it's completely fucking insane! That the thing should come in a big, wooden crate with ACME stenciled on the side! The thing is that it shouldn't. It should come in a bunch of smaller crates of stuff that the Coyote then cobbles INTO Springheel! It's a bunch of non-stupid ideas, slapped together until they became Springheel!
"It's invisible! Like Harry Potter or Predator, more like Predator! That stuff about inertial damping? You guys are more into sci-fi than me, I'm sure you know more about it than I do. I've got a 20-page brief from my Minister of Science, and all I got out of it was that it's something we'll eventually need for Space and calling it 'inertial dampening' is incorrect."
"Stargate always fucked that one up, but yeah." Susan said, nodding for her to continue.
"That trajectory-calculating program, was I the only one who saw it and thought 'roulette wheel?' Or 'never lose a game of pool again?'"
Mander raised his hand.
"I did, Your Countessness."
Helen nodded to him and continued.
"You see? That's just the criminals in the room talking." She turned to Troy. "Fuck, Troy, YOU could probably do something like watch the lottery drawings for a couple weeks, track the movements of the number balls bouncing around that clear tumbler and come up with a viable system! Or figure out a way to intercept missiles or something! Visit the Texas Book Depository and sort out what really happened! I know YOU would figure out some way to use it for good, Troy.
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